SEATTLE — Everyone here has been talking about Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani—by how much will he clear half a billion dollars when he becomes a free agent after the season, is he a better pitcher or a hitter, is there anyone more talented on earth—and frankly, enough is enough.
Sure, Ohtani is probably the best baseball player in the history of the sport. Just about every night, he does something we have never seen before and may never see again. He’s a miracle. We are lucky to be alive while he is.
But he’s not the only dual threat, and it’s time his peers got some recognition. They are all good at baseball—they’re All-Stars, after all—and many of them are good at other things, too.
“Impressions,” says Atlanta ace Spencer Strider. “I do some members of the team. I’ve got a pretty good Trump, I’m not gonna lie. Plankton from SpongeBob.” He declines to perform any, saying the team media relations staff has advised him not to, but goes to teammate Bryce Elder for a second opinion. “Yeah, very good,” Elder says.
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And isn’t it harder to be good at hitting and doing impressions than it is to be good at hitting and pitching?
“One can make that argument,” Strider says. “You go right ahead. You might have the linguistic skills necessary to make it work.”
We’ll find out together.
In any event, he says, “Whatever I’m second best at is not anywhere near as good as [Ohtani's] second best thing, whatever that is, hitting or pitching.” Which one is that? “I don’t know,” Strider says. “I’ve been asked this question. That’s how difficult it is to decide. I will say, I’ve seen him do things at the plate that are pretty cool. He kind of has the swing of a smaller, slap hitter—the contact ability—but also the power of a big guy, and to go in every direction with power is pretty cool.”
It is cool. Almost as cool as being good at another sport.
“Spikeball,” says Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, adding that he might go pro if he can find the time around his baseball commitments.
“Soccer,” says Rays left fielder Randy Arozarena in Spanish, adding that he is “better than at baseball.” He says he has not entirely ruled out the idea of playing both professionally.
“We have a mini hoop in our training room,” says Rangers third baseman Josh Jung. “I’m pretty good at shooting on that. If there was a pro mini hoop league, I might be the MVP.”
Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette is an excellent tennis player, because his father, Dante, who played 14 years in the majors, suggested it as cross-training to help improve his footwork on defense. The younger Bichette considered trying to play professionally in both sports but abandoned the idea when he realized, he says, “I don’t have the time, especially because it’s pretty much the same season.”
Cubs ace Justin Steele actually has competed professionally in two disciplines, as a pitcher and as a Call of Duty player, at a Major League Gaming tournament in Dallas in 2017 while he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
Perhaps the most unfairly unheralded is Brewers closer Devin Williams.
“Hitting,” he says. “I’m a really good hitter. I could be Ohtani Jr., but they took the bat away from me.”
Maybe Ohtani is Williams Jr.
“You can check my Double A stats,” says Williams. “They’re pretty amazing.” (It’s true; he went 3-for-5 with a double and two walks for a 1.514 OPS.)
Would he have won the Home Run Derby?
“I would have hit more than Mookie [Betts, who hit 11 and finished last],” Williams says. “You can tell him I said that.”
On second thought, maybe Williams’s second best skill is trash talking. He is joined by a few others who excel at more intellectual pursuits.
“Crossword puzzles,” says A’s left fielder Brent Rooker. “[I can get] the USA Today one pretty quickly. New York Times Sunday has given me some trouble sometimes, but I can get most of them.”
“Quoting movies,” says Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado, specifically “Dumb and Dumber.” (He is also proficient in TV shows, especially “The Office.”)
“I feel like I’m a good husband,” says Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. “I feel like I do the husband game well. That’s my second best attribute.” He offers to get an opinion from his wife, Amy, but adds, laughing, “it might not be as positive as mine.”
Many of the All-Stars are proud of their multidisciplinary excellence, as well they should be. Someone who can hit and quote movies with the greats or pitch and be a good husband at the highest level will surely be a crossover star on the level of Ohtani just as soon as the public learns of these skills.
But in the meantime, at least one All-Star would trade talents with Ohtani. Rooker does enjoy the thrill of, say, remembering that a three-letter word for “Giants slugger Mel” is OTT. Still, he says, “Pitching seems more lucrative.”
